The UNSC Paratroopers
by FLAMELASHER
Summary: You have heard of the Marines, basic soldiers. You have heard of the ODST, elite soldiers. But what of the middle ground? Dropping from the clouds, and laying down their lives for humanity? What of the UNSC Paratroopers? Rated T just in case.
1. Forest Combat and Cracked Visors

I aimed my MA37 Assault Rifle and fired a sustained burst at the tall, blue armored, lizard like, alien in front of me. The rounds pinged off it's shield, clattering to the ground. It raised it's blue, U-shaped gun, and I dived to the side as it unleashed a beam of blue plasma. In reality it was a long series of plasma blasts, but it fired so fast that it really didn't matter. It switched it's aim just as vents popped open on the side of the alien gun. I took the chance to fire the last 7 rounds in my Rifle, aiming for the hand. I was lucky, because all of them hit the hand, tearing it open. There were no shields there, to allow it to hold it's gun. I tossed my Rifle aside and drew my M6D Magnum. I unloaded my clip on it, breaking it's shields and the last 2 shots tearing it's head open. It was a Pistol in name only, as it was huge and it's rounds hit like a Sniper Rifle's when there were no shields in the way. I released the clip and slotted another one in, then looked at the tree behind where I had been standing. It was on fire, and raising a plume of smoke. Well, that saved me from popping a flare. I was down here to give a signal to my team of where to land. They were UNSC Paratroopers, just like me. We were the middle ground between Marines and ODST, both in how we enter the battlefield and how intense our training is. Well, the training part is a guess. It's definetley harder than Marine Training, which I went through first, but the ODST section - a complete guess. Our job was usually to serve as Shock Troops when there were no ODSTs, or to clear areas for Marines to land.

A second later a dot flew overhead, and smaller dots dropped from it. As the first dot vanished, the other dots became blobs, then figures, then UNSC Paratroopers. They activated their parachutes as they drew close, and rolled as they hit the ground, parachutes disconnecting. They stood up almost in unison and saluted me. I saluted back and checked they were all there. Baron, my Right Hand Man, stood in the front, armed with a MA37. Chatter, the newest member, stood behind him, holding a M7 Submachine Gun. Spark, the explosives specialist, was holding a M319 IGL Grenade Launcher. I could tell she was itching to use it. Behind him was Chopper, our hand-to-hand specialist and only team member able to pilot air vehicles. The final member of the team is Silent. He doesn't talk much, but is deadly with any weapon he chooses to use. They all wore the same armor, which was rougly 5 milimeters thick and encased their whole body, with a dark green visor and camoflauge paint. Each had large, spuare shoulder pieces, which were quite thick. They covered half of our faces while we were aiming down our weapon's scopes. On the left side of the chestplate was the UNSC Enblem (which looked like an eagle sitting on a planet, with UNSC written on a piece of thin paper going across the bottom of the planet), and the Paratroopers name and number written in bold white text below it.

Our mission today was to sneak into a Covenant Base from behind and place some C12 Charges on the important buildings - their versions of Barracks and Armories and their Methane Storages, as well as any other buildings we chose to explode. Knowing Spark, probably as many as possible. On the way there, we were supposed to meet up with 4 other squads of Paratroopers at a small lake in a clearing of the huge forest the Covenant chose to build a base in. Speaking of clearings, that's where we were now, in a small clearing. 4 Grunts lay dead in the middle of it. They had been sitting there when I found the clearing. I had tossed a Frag Grenade into their midst and blown them all to hell, then charged the Elite Minor that had been leaning against a tree on the other side. I wasn't sure why they were there. Probably a patrol taking a rest. As I was thinking, Spark was darting around, collecting Plasma Grenades from the fallen aliens. Plasma Grenades stuck to living things and packed a huge punch. Get hit with one, and your life is over. Silent had also looted the bodies, taking a Plasma Pistol. Before I met him, I would have thought taking one of them things stupid. That was before he demonstrated their ability to be overcharged so they could take down shields and stop vehicles. I grabbed one too, just in case, and secured it to my Kevlar Belt. No one else had taken anything. At least I thoight they hadn't until I saw Chopper switch on and then off an Energy Dagger looted from the Elite.

Now that the looting spree was over, we moved out, heading through the forest, following a pointer on out Heads Up Displays. They weren't as good as ODST HUDs, not having a Health and Energy Monitor, but it did have a Direction Pointer, Night Vision, Friend Or Foe Tagging, Radar and Communication System, so I wasn't complaining. We got halfway to the lake when we spotted another patrol moving through the forest. This one had 6 Grunts and 2 Elite Minors. Seems they noticed the one I killed was missing and sent stronger patrols. I told everyone to get down into the fallen leaves. Did I mention it's Autumn on this Planet? Hell, did I even mention the name of the planet. In case I didn't, here it is - Solus IX. Fitting name for a planet that seems never to have snow or ice. I should know, my Aunt and Uncle lived here when I was a kid, and my family sometimes visited. But it wasn't time for that. I whispered a few orders over the Comm and aimed my MA37 at the smaller Elite Minor, who was holding a Beam Rifle, a Covenant Sniper Rifle that could down any of us in one shot. Silent was going to lower the Elite's shields, and Spark was aiming for the other Elite Minor, who had a Plasma Rifle. Baron and Chatter's job was to spray the Grunts with as much lead as they could without needing to reload, and Chopper was going to finish off any Survivors with his Energy Dagger. I waited for the patrol to get a tiny bit closer, then barked one word.

"ATTACK!"

A blob of Green Plasma hit the Elite with the Beam Rifle, popping his shields, and I opened fire on him, ripping his body open. The other Elite fired at me, hitting and heavily damaging my Shoulder Pad, before an explosion tore him apart.

"Thanks," I said to Spark.

"No problem, Boss." she whispered back.

I glanced at the Grunts, as I heard Baron and Chatter release their clips. They were all dead except one, which was reaching for it's dropped gun. Chopper activated his blade, and ran at it, stabbing it right through it's temple. I heard the hissing of an Energy Sword as he switched the Energy Dagger off. Wait... Energy Sword?

"Chopper, get down. Everyone else, shoot!" roared Baron.

A point appeared on my hud. I saw a faint shimmer in the air there. Chopper hurled himself to the ground and I emptied what was left of my clip at it. Unfortuantley, 10 bullets didn't pierce it's shield. It did, however, make it show up, revealing it as a Spec Ops Elite, and a Grenade sailed towards. It ducked and the Grenade hit a thin tree, which toppled and caught alight.

"Whoops!" shouted Spark.

Chatter charged the Elite with his Combat Knife. It roared a challenge and swiped at him, but he dodged and stabbed at it's arm, his blow glancing off it's shield. Chatter was incredibly agile, but not all that strong. The Elite kicked him and he flew back into the piles of leaves. His reckless attack had given me and Baron time to reload. We emptied our clips at it, and it staggered and fell into the flames. The flames now burning the land around us. Even worse, they were burning Chopper's leg.

"Shit, sorry Chopper!" shouted Spark, pulling him away as we ran.

"Get some water on his leg!" ordered Baron.

Spark fumbled with her Water Canteen with one hand, prying it open and tipping it over Chopper's leg.

"Chopper, are you okay?" she asked frantically.

Chopper groaned. I checked his FOF Tag, and told Spark the news.

"He's unconscious, but he'll live."

"Oh thank god," Spark exclaimed.

Spark loved us all in a friendly manner (Except Chatter, who she argued with, lots), and I don't think she'd be able to take it if her Grenade Launcher had caused one of us to die. I don't think she would have been able to take it if any of us died in any way. We'd all be devastated, but Spark... She'd break down inside. Lucky for her (and all of us) none of us had ever been wounded enough to be kept out of combat for more than a few months. Ah, damn, I just jinxed it didn't I? When we got a good distance from the fire we stopped running and stripped Chopper's leg armor. His fatigues underneath were burnt and his leg red and black in places. Nothing fatal, but it probably hurt like hell. Baron ordered Chatter to stay here with him and guard him. The following conversation was vaugley amusing.

"But I don't wanna!"

"But orders say so."

"But I don't wanna!"

"But orders say so."

"But I wanna shoot Elites!"

"But some might come here."

"But most will be at their base!"

"Will you both SHUT UP, you sound like Chatter and Spark!" I shouted.

"But I am Chatter!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled.

I heard Spark laughing through the Comm, and slammed my head against a tree, cracking my visor. Spark laughed even more. God, this would be a long mission. 


	2. The Other Paras and Bad News

I removed my helmet, because the cracked visor broke my HUD, and limited my visor. Spark laughing at me had nothing to do with it. Okay, it had everything to do with it. I tossed it into the leaf cover on the ground and took Chopper's helmet. It wasn't damaged and I needed it more than he did. He could always get a new one of our ship, the UNSC Everest. Named after the highest mountain on Earth. Back before humanity terraformed Mars, Everest had been the tallest thing around. But there's higher mountains on Mars. But I'm getting off topic. The UNSC Everest was a small Frigate, and held about 200 Marines and 50 us Paratroopers. The 25 of us not in the Forest had been sent to reinforce our Marines in the Capital City of Solus IX, which I couldn't remember the name of. Anyway, back to out ship. It's a Charon-class Frigate, named after the boatsman of the underworld. Good name for a frigate designed to send it's enemies to hell. Anyway, one of the best things about it is that it's rated for atmosphere, so we can get plenty of Archer Missile strikes and our Air Vehicles reached us quicker. It's armory is fairly small, for something capable of arming and armoring 250ish people and having plenty of spares. It's split into several sections: Small Arms, Heavy Weapons, Armor and Other. Other held things like the Stanchion Gauss Rifle (a kind of sniper rifle but based on the Gauss Turret on some of the Warthogs). Speaking 0f Warthogs, the Everest held 20, 5 of them with the Gauss Turrets I mentioned. I love those things. We reached the lake with no further problems. However, as we got there, Baron ordered us to stop. Us being Me, Silent and Spark. Well, he ordered Spark to stop, and I joined the stopping club.

"What?" I whispered.

"Motion Tracker shows hostiles. Wait... I see them!" he replied.

Markers popped up on my HUD. Spec Ops Elites. Baron had really good eyes. Most of the Spec Ops Elites were bunched into a large group, with one or two elsewhere.

"Spark, you get the big group," I started.

"Oh yeah!" she replied, bringing up her secondary weapon - a SPANKr Rocket Launcher.

"Baron, you and Silent use Pop and Fill on the left Elite," I said.

Pop and Fill meant 'POP the shields and FILL them with lead'.

"And you, sir?" asked Baron.

"I'm going for the Elite on the right," I answered; "ATTACK!"

I noticed a rocket and blod of plasma shoot to the left, as I charged the Spec Ops Elite on the right. It was startled, and I stabbed it through the eye with an Energy Dagger. I took more than a helmet from Chopper. I noticed there was another, and it fired it's Plasma Rifle at me. I raised my right, undamaged shoulder piece and the plasma melted it, however it gave me time to roll a grenade. It ended up under the Elite and popped it's shields while hurling it head over heels. It rushed it and stabbed it in the face about 10 times, and was only stopped by Spark walking up behind me.

"Calm down Boss," she laughed.

I got up, deactivating the Energy Dagger and placing it back in my Kevlar belt. I looked at my armor through Spark's helmet cam. The left shoulder piece was scorched badly and the right piece had turned into molten slag. Other than that, and a few minor burn marks on the boots, it was in good condition. Spark had a burn on the front of her chestplate.

"Are you alright Spark?" I asked.

"Yeah, it didn't go through my armor," she answered.

"Just be careful, I don't want to lose you, or any of this squad," I said.

"Relax, Boss, I'll be fine," she sighed.

"Ok, ok," I replied.

Baron and Silent had walked over.

"Silent, Spark, look for the other squads, I'll check the Comms," ordered Baron.

Silent and Spark ran off to the edges of the clearing, and Spark ran back with a squad of 4.

"Hey, I found Squad Commonwealth," she said.

Squad Commonwealth was made of members of countries that had been in the British Empire of the, what, 1800s, and people descended from them countries. That is why we called them Squad Commonwealth. Their real name was Squad Delta. We were Squad Bravo, but known as Squad Jumble, because of the varying personalities, skills and origins in out squad.

"Where's the other two?" I asked, noticing that there should have been 6 of them.

"They broke their legs on impact, so they had to stay behind," cut in Union Jack, leader of Squad Commonwealth.

"A pity, we need all the people we can get," someone said from behind us.

Silent stood near to another Squad, this one had all 6 Members. I recognised them as Team Afro. 5 of them were Afro-Carribean, and Hare, their leader and the fastest para, had actually had an Afro before training.

"Oh, hi Team Afro," said Baron, who was best friends with Hare.

"Greetings," said Hare.

"I hate that name!" complained one member.

I recognised him as Triple O (Odd One Out), who was very pale, bald and from a cold planet. 3 guesses why his name is Odd One Out, first 2 don't count.

"Well, that's why you're Triple O," said a member I didn't recognise.

We waited a while for the other squads but they didn't show up. I made a mental note to have a Search and Rescue team sent here after the battle. That is, if we one. After that, I took command of all 3 squads (16 of us in total), and started explaining the new plan. Hare and Hermes, a member of Squad Commonwealth, would fire a few shots at the base and run south, while the rest of us snuck in to the north, except for Spark and Flamehead, another Squad Commonwealth Member, who would fire a few rockets at the east and west walls. All in all, the 12 of us in the North should be able to sneak in quite easily, and then we would cause chaos inside, allowing for the 4 people on sistraction duty to join us without being pinned down. That was the plan. I decide to take inventroy first. 10 MA37 Assault Rifles, 3 SPANKr Rocket Launchers with 6 rockets each, 2 M7 Submachine Guns and 1 M90 Shotgun. All of them had roughly 3 or 4 clips of ammo each. Most of out armor was in good condition, minus my Shoulder Pads (one damaged, one molten slag), Spark's Chestplate (hlaf melted), and Triple O's boots, which had caught alight from a plasma blast and been abbandoned, causing him quite a lot of annoyance from going barefoot. But we were mostly good to go.

That's when we got a report from Chatter. They had a Collumn of 10 Wraiths, each with 2 Revenants for back up coming our way. And, even worse, each Revenant has 4 Elite Majors on either side of it. In other words, we were screwed.


	3. The Battle and Godly Luck

I pressed my back against one of the large rocks jutting out from the ground. Next to me on both sides were other Paras, my team (except Chopper and Chatter) to the right, Squad Commonwealth to the left. In the forest ahead, Team Afro was hiding with 2 of our SPANKr Rockets and an M90 Shotgun. C12 paired the forest road in, and the clearing between the entrance and rocks. I had the detonator for the ones on the right, the other team leaders had their own detonators. If the huge Convoy of Covenant was going to burn us, they were in for one Hell of a fight, to use the 21st century expression. I saw something moving down the Forest path. A Revenant. The Revenant was a hybrid between the Ghost and Wraith, able to carry 2 Elites on each side and armed with a powerful main turret. 4 more Revenants followed it, and suddenly the ground beneath them exploded and collapsed, creating a pit full of rubble and flames. Then 15 more Revenants and about 80 Elite Majors shot forward, led by 10 Elite Ultras with Energy Swords, leaping or boosting over the pit. 4 HEAT Rockets slammed into them, taking out 2 Ultras and 3 Revenants, as well as weakening lots of shields. Then they fired back.

The wall of plasma went left first. I didn't know them two, but that didn't mean they were any less important. As it went right, Hare darted put of the forest, dragging Triple O. It didn't look good for the other guy. They leapt over the rocks and joined us. Then we all aimed and fired. Shies didn't matter when you were hit by 6 Assault Rifles, an SMG, and 4 Magnum at once. The front line glowed White, then started being blown apart. When they were halfway to us, we used the rest of the C12. The Sky turned orange and white, and then it cleared. 6 Revenant and 15 Elites remained. We exchanged fire. The fight went ok, until Baron went down with his helmet on fire, he released it and survived, but went unconscious. After that an Ultra jumped up and stabbed Union Jack through the chest, before Spark shoved a Grenade in it's mouth, and Barbie, Union Jack's second in command, kicked it back. It's head exploded and we got back to shooting at the Majors. Spark took out 2 Revenants with Rockets, and then things got bad. The Revenants returned fire, blasting away at our rocks, and 8 more Ultras hopped from them and joined the fight. And the Wraiths arrived.

"Oh shit," someone said.

Mortar blasts atomised the rocks we were behind and we stood up, ready for a last stand. We squeezed our triggers an a few rounds shot out, and clatter to the ground after hitting their Shields. We were all out. The Elites grouped up, ready to hit all 5 of us with a wall of plasma. Hang on - where was Spark. The answer came in the form of one Wraith exploding and Spark boarding another. She reversed, splattering the Elites and before the Wraith drivers had realised what was going on, one had exploded in blue flames and another was halfway there. Then they all returned fire on Spark's Wraith. I watch as the mortar-like Plasma descended on my friend, my team mate. And then I exhaled as her Wraith boosted away from the blasts and fired back, taking out the damaged one. I had an idea, and snapped some orders. Two Frags were primed in my hands, and I heard the same happen around me. Then we threw. Wraith are tough, and well armoured, but one thing they are not is immune to 10 Frag Grenades on the Mortar's Plasma Battery. Ten small orange explosions were followed by one huge blue one. 5 Wraiths left. They fired on Spark, two of them missing completely...

And three hitting head on.

I didn't care that they would shoot me as I charged. I didn't care that it was suicide. I didn't care my only weapons were 2 daggers, 1 Plasma, 1 Steel. I was too pissed off. I charged, readying them both. The gunner of the lead tank fired at me. The plasma boiled away me armour. And then, a metal tube hit it, and it exploded. More metal tubes, rockets, and grenades flew on the rest, causing chaos and exploding . 3 more exploded, and the other was blown over, the pilot, an Elite Zealot, tumbled out. A second later I slammed my dagger into to his shields, and slashed with the Energy Dagger, but he kicked me away. He tossed a metal bar to me.

I picked it up and it turned into an Energy Sword.

"Leave the fucker, he's all mine!" I roared at the Paras emerging from the forest.

The Zealot activated his own Energy Sword, it's blue light reflecting off of it's ornate yet effective golden armour. I must have looked foolish in comparison, with burnt and scorched armour from all the times I had been hit today. I didn't care. The only thing I cares about at that moment was avenging Corporal Lily 'Spark' Crown. I charged the Zealot, roaring. I swung my Energy Sword at it and it parried and stabbed back, but I twisted put of the way and lunged at it's leg, which it swung over the blade and into my chest before thrusting it's sword at my back, however I rolled up close to it and stabbed, and I barely blocked my blow then pushed me backwards. I stumbled and fell, then rolled to the side as the Zealot tried to finish me with a downward stab. As it pulled it's sword free, I got back up and swung at it, but it leaned back out of the way and countered forcing me to leap backwards, and I rolled to my feet. It closed the gap and stabbed, but I ducked. It tripped me and tried to finish me off, but I twisted and the burning plasma cut the side of my arm. It exploded in pain, but my rage was in control and I shrugged it off. It tried again but this time I cut it's arm as I swung to my feet on a tree branch. It roared in pain and kicked me across the forest road and into a tree on the other side.

I pushed off of the tree and launched a fast blow at the Zealot, but he patted it up and swung downwards, cutting through the air like I knew it would carve through my skin, muscles and bones. I activated my Energy Dagger and swung that down low as a diversion, it simply kicked it away. It wanted a fair, honourable, duel. I wanted it's head, and I tried to claim it, but it ducked and punched me, knocking all the wind out of me. It swung it's sword. It overestimated me, and although I was hit as I toppled backwards, it would leave no more than a scar. As it stepped over me, my logical side kicked in. A sword on sword fight would end with me dead, as it nearly had so many times already. So I brought in a little backup, and grabbed something from a dead Wraith gunner. A Plasma Pistol. As it went to finish me I pushed his blade away and stood up, charging the Plasma Pistol. When it was overcharged I released he trigger. The 'Plasma EMP' switched off his shields and caused him to stagger. Honour was good, but not in fights. I lopped off it's sword hand and then it's other hand, and retrieved it's dropped Plasma Blade. It went to kick me, but I left it like that Elf from Lord of the Rings. Leg-less? Get it? No? Well, I was too pissed off to think of anything better, and the adrenaline that gave me the strength to carve through the Elite wasn't exactly helping me think.

I didn't give it a quick death. Oh no. I slowly slid the swords over it's skin, burning through it's armor and piercing a milimeter into it's skin, and laughed like a maniac as it roared in pain. The thing deserved it, after killing my friend. After a while I began wildly slashing at it, carving it's body up, leaving a pile of bloody chunks, steam floating from the edges off them, the ground beneath them purple with the alien's blood. I was breathing heavily as I tossed it's sword on the ground and fired at it again and again with my looted Plasma Pistol, turning it into molten. I pocketed the Energy Sword it had thrown to me (it would be very handy in close combat, not to mention how cool it would be, and as a reminder of Spaek), and then my adrenaline rush ended, the chemical keeping me standing, and fighting, left my body. My rage had burned out too. Screamed at the burning cuts on my arm and chest, which had started hurting. Screamed at the plasma burns on my body, from the Wraith Gunner's turret. Screamed at how unfair it was, that Spark, who risked her life to save us all, died, while the Covenant's commander sat back drinking alien wine in orbit. Screamed, as I realised this planet would be turned to glass, like all the others the Covenant had attacked. The last thing I saw as I blacked out was the other Paratroopers staring at me. I didn't blame them.

The Paratrooper dragged his saviour out of the Wraith's rubble, and pulled off her helmet. Her face had once been pretty, now it was shining red in places, and scorched an ugly black in others. Her green eyes were open, staring at the sky. The Paratrooper switched on his torch, and pointed it into the woman's eyes. Her pupils shrunk. She was alive. 


	4. News Updates and Dinnertime

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking a few times to get rid of the blur affecting my vision. Above me was a roof made of the dull grey metal that formed almost all UNSC Ships. I looked around, and saw I was in a medbay. It looked as boring as they all do - rows of plain beds (small, and with white covers), each with a locker above them holding all kinds of surgical tools, medicines and chemicals. At least, that's what I thought was in there. Could of been anything, but I seriously doubted it wasn't medical supplies of some kind. I looked around a bit more, and saw one doctor in the room, near the entrance. He was wearing a white lab coat, and watching something on a Datapad while leaning against the room. I couldn't quite make out his features, my sight was still a bit blurrer. When he saw me awake, he walked slowly over to me, tapping a few things on his datapad. As he drew closer I saw he had wild brown hair and brown eyes. He would've made a good mad scientist. I chuckled at my (rubbish) joke, but then I remembered what had happened to put me in the medbay. We had been on a mission on Somnus IX... Chopper had been wounded... We had met up with a few other Paras, and were attacked by a huge force of Covenant... Baron was wounded... Just as we were about to die, Spark had hijacked a Wraith... Then he Wraith was destroyed... I went Apehsit... Bunch of others dealt with the Wraiths... I dueled a Zealot... Won... And collapsed. I wasn't that worried about Chopper or Baron. They were just knocked out, and neither were fatally wounded, although Baron would have been if it wasn't for his helmet. It was Spark I was worried about... I prayed the Doctor would tell me she was alive, but I knew that it was unlikely. The Doctor reached me.

"Is Spark dead?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"Spark?" said the Doctor, confused.

"Corporal Crown," I reffered to her by her Rank and Surname.

"No, you should thank whatever Gods you believe in, we managed to save her," he said, smiling.

"What? You did!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, in fact none of your Squadron were killed," he beamed.

That wasn't news. Spark was the only one who could've died.

"How bad is Spar- Corporal Crown?" I asked.

"She won't be fighting for a while, but her armor saved her life, and with some luck she should be up and walking within a month," the Doctor explained.

This was too good to be true.

"What I'm really worried about is you, I have reports that your mental state-" started the Doctor.

"I was really pissed off. But forget about me, how are the rest of my squad?" I cut the Doctor off.

"Both of the wounded are fully healed, they have been for a few weeks," informed the Doctor.

"How long ago was the battle?" I pressed.

"A month," answered the Doctor.

Only a month? I knew Modern Medicine was good, but still, I expected for Spark to be down for years if she survived.

"Yes, now I need to do a few tests before you can go," said the Doctor.

He made me answer some questions, including basic math (I know, poor me), memory tests and a bit of spelling. Then I had to walk around the room and do a few jumps. He decided I was fine and let me go. I headed for my room first, to change out of this medical robe. It was empty and I dropped the robe on the floor. I pulled on some pants after checking everything was still there (it was) and then slipped on some Green Shorts, and some plain black socks. I checked for a scar on my chest. There was one there, running right the way across, but it was only a thin scar, nothing serious. I slipped on a Green UNSC Shirt after putting on a plain vest. Finally, I put on my green trainers (yes, I did have non-green clothes) and my watch, which someone had retrieved for me. My Uncle had given it to me for Christmas back when I was 12, 6 whole years ago. Okay, 11 years ago. I grabbed the Medical Robe and ran it down to the Med Bay, handing it to the Doctor. After that I hit the gym, planning to test all my muscles. I went to the jogging machine first, going along an average 10 MPH for 15 minutes. My record time for a 15 minute run was 14 MPH, but that was when I was at my best. After that I bench pressed a few weights, and finally headed over to the boing ring. I beat up a few dummies and dodged a few hits on the 'Wall of Pain' before being hit as I reached a 19 dodge spree. I tried a few more times, getting up to 21. My record was 26, the ship record 39. The 'Wall of Pain' was a wall with lots of holes in. You bascally stood on a mat near it and dodged the hard, fast attacks it made with large lumps of metal on poles. I headed out of the gym, statisfied I was still fit.

I jogged back to my room and watched a bit of News. The cursed Covenant had finished off on Harvest, after 5 years of war. A hot supermodel died in a Car crash. That was sad, she was one of my favorite to, um, uh, 'examine', photos of. I swatched for a bit longer but there wasn't much else going on. I checked my watch and saw it was around 7 PM. I realised why the Gym was empty - it was tea time! I sprinted over to the cafeteria. I stepped in through the open doors. The cafeteria reminded me of high school. There were a large amount of tables spread out over the room, and at them sat Marines, Navy Officers, Engineers, Paras, the usual crew of a UNSC Ship. They were glugging down beer, crunching on food, and generally messing around. At the end of the room was a large metal bar, with a board above it. It displayed waht was on offer today. I won't read out the whole menu, just tell you what I planned on getting - Tomato Soup, my personal favorite soup, followed by Turkey and Vegetables, and finished off with a thin slice of chocolate cake. A better selection was available than usual. I also decided I'd have Beer for a drink. A month was too long to go without Beer, even if you spent most of it in and out of consciousness in a Med Bay. I walked over to the bar, and got my food. I looked around for my squad, and saw them on the OTHER SIDE of the Cafeteria. So I walked all the way over there and sat at the tabel.

"Sir!" said Baron, saluting.

"Ease," I sighed.

"Hey Boss, you missed out on this awesome game of Galactic Racers 2525, I owned everyone!" exclaimed Chatter.

"What really happened is - I knocked him off the track and he got stuck the whole race!" shouted Chopper.

"Shut up!" snapped Chatter.

I laughed. I wasn't sure what I expected, but things were already back to normal. Except for Spark being missing. It felt wierd without her here, joking around and arguing with Chatter. I joined in a conversation about Galactic Racers 2525 as I glugged down my cold soup, and soon I was talking about Sports Cars, then the Supermodel's Car Crash, then Supermodels, then Porn, then Prostitutes, then Chatter's girlfriend came over and we stopped talking about Prostitutes and started talking about flowers and butterflies, laughing at her angry expression until she threw a gravy pot at Chopper. Then we 'Shut the hell up!', as she ordered. 


	5. Meeting Burner and A False Alarm

Just over2 weeks after I was out of the Med Bay, I aimed my MA37 at a Brute, and fired a burst at it, hitting it in the neck, before shifting my aim to the grnts behind it, spraying wildly and taking them all out. Another enemy appeared - a Brute Stalker. I shot it's grenade pouch and it went up in flames. That would net me some bonus points. The last enemy popped up - another Stalker. I repeated the trick i used on the last one, and then the match ended. I checked my score - 12,000, and looked at my personal leaderboard. I beat my old score of 11,500. I punched the air and ejected my clip, letting it clatter into the tin at my feet. I looked at the squad leaderboards. Silent had 21,750, but he isn't really human, according to the latest rumors. The high score went to Baron, who beat me by 50 points. Damn. I would have to work on that. Finally, I switched to the ship leaderboards. I was 11th, me and Baron were lagging a bit behind the trained Snipers and Marksmen. But they would always get higher scores at Target Practice, they were Snipers and Marksmen, except for the guys in 8 and 5 (And Silent in 2nd). My new target was to reach 4th. That way I would be the best non-designated marksman at Target Practice on the ship (except for Silent, but he's not really human, more killing machine). To get there I needed to reach 16,750. I decied to try using the new MA5Bs we just picked up from the refit station. They needed to be reloaded less, meaning more time shooting, meaning more points. The same goes for everyone, but, maybe I'd be the MA5B master? Who knows?

"I know you won't," said someone from behind me.

Looks like I was thinking out loud again.

I turned round and adressed the speaker, a female Marine; "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, 'cause I'm going to be MA5B master," she proclaimed.

"Where are you in the leaderboards, then?" I challenged.

She smiled at me; "5th, best non-marksman on the ship. Except this Silent guy, but I heard he's not human."

"Oh, you know that do you? Well, don't get too comfortable with your title, because I'm going to steal it," I advised wisely. Okay, not really wisely.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," she said, before turning to walk away.

"Wait, I didn't get your name!" I shouted after them.

They turned round and took off their helmet. They were a girl, with her ginger hair down to her shoulders, a tiny bit above regulation, and green eyes. She was quite pretty.

"Burner, 'cause of the way I burn through enemies, and my fiery hair. You?" she answered.

"Boss," I said simply.

"Oh, how incredibly creative of you," she joked.

"Hey, I didn't get to choose it!" I protested.

"I know, just messing with you," she winked at me and walked off, leaving me wondering why she had been wearing her helmet.

I began to go through all of the reasons, before I started thinking about emergency toilet stops. Then I started thinking about anatonomy, and wondering what the Covenant alien's anatonomies were like. Grunts were probably quite simmilar, as the breathing mask things they had would work on a human if filled with oxygen. Brutes were probably simmilar to ours, because the were also descended from monkeys, I assumed. Elites were probably different, as they were cold-blooded. I think. I don't usually test thigns like that. Also, they were Lizard-like, so another reason for it to be different. Jackals were probably simmilar to that of Birds and things, but without wings. They look a bit bird-like to me. They're called Jackals but don't really look all that like them, in my opinion. Hunters were obviously very different, after all, they were made up of lots of worms. Their Engineer things, very different, because they are a mix between Space Squid and Baloons. Not that Space Squid existed. I started thinking about Space Squid. Don't ask me why, I just did ok. Thankfully, I was interupted before I started wondering how they reproduce. I didn't want to go there, even in my mind. Anyway, Chopper burst into the room, he looked like he had ran halfway across the ship. He probably had, the Gunnery Range is tucked away really far from the Dorms, Med Bay and Gym, which are in the center.

"Boss, come quick!" Chopper said, before running off.

I followed him. He seemed to be heading towards the center. Either he wanted me to see his new record on Galactic Racers 2525, or there was something going on in the Med Bay. Knowing Chopper, it was probably the Med Bay one. Maybe a Space Squid was giving birth, suggested one part of my mind. I told it to shut and go cry in a corner, and returend my mind to what could be happening. I might be needed for a check up. Nah, this was too urgent. Someone from my team could be wounded, but the ship was safe, and if enemies were on board, the alarms would be blaring. We ran past the Captain on the way there. I stopped to salute, and Chopper quickly did the same. Then we went back to running. I was getting really confused now. What could be so urgent that we needed to cross half the ship. Spark wasn't expected to be up and walking for 2 weeks yet, so it probably wasn't that. I hadn't had any sex recently, so it couldn't be for me to meet my new kid. It could be a DNA test, but that wouldn't be so urgent. We finally reached the Med Bay, and walked in quietly. Quietness was one of the Doctor's rules. Speaking of the Doctor, he walked over to me, and told me that Spark had gone missing. We began searchoing the room, looking under the beds. It felt so stupid and childish, like we were playing Hide and Seek or something.

"BOO!" shouted someone from behind me.

Spark was right there.

"Corporal, I said you should be resting in BED! Not playing hide and seek!"

Spark was laughing so hard that she started coughing. The Doctor helped her back into her Med Bay bed, and me and Chopper rolled our eyes.


	6. Boarding Party and a Hero

**AN: So, this is the longest chapter so far, I hope any of you reading this story enjoy it.**

The UNSC Charon tore it's way out of slipspace. I felt it from the Target Practice Range, and it threw off my aim, causing me to shoot the roof. I cursed and, sure enough, didn't reach my high score. Beating it was out of the question. I cursed and tossed the practice Assault Rifle aside, it landing on the floor. Then I calmed down and went for another try. I loaded it, got some more clips ready, and began the target practice. A few Grunts popped up, but I took them down, and then 2 Jackals came, crouching behind their shields. I rolled a Grenade to take them out, and then I shot one of their bodies into a Brute, netting me some extra points. I aim at another Brute, and just as I am about to take it out, the ship's alarms go off, and I have to leave the Target Range. I throw the Training Assault Rifle away again, and head to the armory as a mechanical voice reports boarders in Hangar Bay 2. I grab an Assault Rifle and Magnum, pull on some armor and get going. As I get to the door, my squad is waiting outside. Chopper is spinning a Machete around. I decide to give him a little gift - the Energy Sword I got from the Zealot I killed. Silent is holding a Grenade Launcher in one hand, Magnum in the other. Baron, like usual, wields an MA37, like me. Chatter is loading an M7 Submachine Gun, and has a load of grenades around his waist. This was going to be out first time fighting 1-man down. Well, first time going into a fight 1-woman down.

We walked in and onto the upper walkway leading around the Pelicans. I noticed all the Marines aiming at one spot, and saw a circle being cut there. I estimated it's time remaining. 3... 2... 1... I was dead on. Enemies began swarming in, Grunts and a few Elite Minors. Well, they tried to, but we cut them down as they tried to head out. A few more tried to leave, but were also killed. This was too easy. Just as I thought that, Spec Ops Elites faded into view on the walkway and started spraying Plasma everywhere. I hit the dirt. Well, hit the metal, and returned fire, turning one's feet into mush before someone finished it with a burst from his BR55 Battle Rifle. Purple blood hit the metal floor as we switched out fire to another, which fell just as fast. We managed to beat the Spec Ops Elites, but took heavy losses. Me and my squad were fine, and the BR55 Marine was fine, but the guy to my right had lost an arm and a leg fighting. His buddy was injecting him with biofoam as the rest of us realised that while we were battling the Covenant's Spec Ops, their main Infantry had swarmed in. They started firing at up, thundering up the stairs to the walkway. A few Marines blew the stairs up with Grenades, but the Elites jumped and a few deployed Grav Lifts for their weaker allies. Chopper raced to the Stairs and started duelling with an Elite Ultra. Their fight took them into another room. No Elites followed. Their 'Honor' was working in Chopper's favour.

Silent was fighting well, taking out large groups of Grunts and pairs of Jackals with his Grenade Launcher and finishing off shieldless Elites with his Magnum. That guy was too good. Chatter wasn't doing too bad either, spraying the top of one of the Grav Lifts with lead, taking out the alies as they came up. Me and Baron, and the BR55 Marine used the age old stratergy of standing in a line shooting stuff. A Marine rolled past me and shot and incoming Plasma Grenade. It flew backwards and stuck an Elite Major in the head. The Marine turned round and joined out line, winking at me on the way. I recognised her as Burner, the 5th best Marksman on the ship. It wasn't a bad mini-team we had going here: 11th, 10th and 5th best shooters on the ship, as well as another guy who was quite good. He was shooting Jackals in their feet and sides, causing them to open themselves up to other's fire. Burner was spraying the floor, destroying the feet of the enemies so their heads fell into her bullets. Chopper burst back in to the room then, swinging about two Swords and cutting through a few Covenant. I swa a Jackal aim at him and shot it in the leg, and it fell onto my bullets. Burner's trick worked quite well. I heard her mutter something that sounded a bit like 'Copycat' as she reloaded her MA37. I almost laughed before a bolt of green plasma sailed towards me. I caught it on my shoulder pad and went back to firing, beign a bit more cautious of enemies looking at us.

We were just begging to take back control when 6 Pairs of Hunters joined the fight and started firing. Yep, that's right. 12 Hunters in total. Our firing line of Me, Baron, Burner and the BR55 Marine was nearly hit, and we were blown away from each other by the shockwave. The BR55 Marine toppled off the walkway and landed on the bottom deck, where he fired his BR55 full auto into the boarding craft before being hit by an Jackal's Plasma Pistol - right in the face. Damn. I never got to know him. Maybe that was for the best. My thoughts distracted me long enough for a Grunt to jump on me and aim in my face. I shot in with my Magnum and got up. My MA37 had fallen over the Walkway's edge. A Marine went screaming over my head, and landed behind me. I swore, but took his gun. A BR55. Never used these things, but it was better than a Magnum. I switched it to full auto and fired at one of the Hunters, hitting it's unprotected back. It roared and fell. YES! Another turned to face me, and fired. Shit! It fired and I tried to dodge. It hit an inch to my side and blew me off the railing. I hit my helmeted head on a wall and fell unconscious as I landed on the metal floor below, hoping that they would think I was dead. If they didn't, I had no chance of survival.

As I woke up, I saw one Grunt running across the room, trying the keep up with the rest of the Covenant, who were heading into the next room. I had no guns, only my Combat Knife. It would be enough for a Grunt. I crept up behind it and slit it's grey-skinned throat, killing it instantly. I presumed it was an instant kill, anyway. It hopped into the Grav Lift and landed on the top walkway. 9 Hunters lay dead, so 3 had gotten through deeper into the ship. I looked for my friends among the dead filling the walkway, but thankfully I foud none of them. I did find a hole in the wall, so I grabbed a dropped Plasma Rifle and slid in, seeing a Jackal standing there, looking for something... Or someone. I fired a stream of plasma at it's back, and it dropped. I grabbed it's shield, putting it on my arm, and went deeper into the room, recognising it as a storage room. I saw one of the large green crate's lid drop a tiny bit, as though someone had been peeping through. I walked over to it, scanning the room for Covenant, but there were none. I got the Plasma Rifle ready and kicked the crate's lid off, then aimed the alien weapon into it. Someone grabbed it and tossed it away, then sprang out, combat knife swinging towards me. I caugh their wrist and they saw I was human, and relaxed. 5 more people climbed out. Baron and Burner were the first 2 out, followed by Chatter and then 2 Marines I didn't recognise. Looks like they had ran here when the fight went bad. Well, when the fight went worse.

"I though you were dead boss. I'm glad you ain't," said Chatter.

"Well, that's very nice of you," I said sarcastically.

"How did you know it's just because you're a good human shield?" he whined.

I laughed.

"Hey, we should get back to hiding, in case more come in," suggested one of the Marines.

"It's clear, they moved further in," I told him.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go shoot their backs!" shouted Chatter.

"Because it's nice and comfy in the box?" said the Marine.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Mouse," he muttered darkly.

"It suits you," I said, earning a glare from him.

"Would it interest you to know he likes cheese?" asked Burner.

Me, Chatter and the other Marine laughed, while Baron did nothing and Mouse glared at us.

"Come on, let's go," said Baron.

A minute later we were sneaking up behind a Hunter in a Corridor. It was firing at a Marine, who was struggling to survive, and a group of Grunts were backing the Hunter up. I quickly formed a plan, and then we all opened fire. I fired at the Hunter, burning the worms in it's back, with a little help from Burner's full-auto spray. The other 4 took on one Grunt each, leaving the pinned down Marine to finish off the last Grunt, which he did by charging it and shooting it with a Shotgun, then teabagging it. I could tell he was new to warfare. We moved on towards the Bridge, and in a corridor there the fight was raging. Sandbags and crates provided cover for about 25 Marines, led by Hare and Triple O, who were darting from cover to cover, firing as the went. Silent and Chopper were also there, fighting for their lives. The Covenant were firing back, led by a Zealot. Their forces consisted of about 70 Grunts, 35 Jackals, 15 Elite Minors and 5 Majors. Plus the last two hunters. Me, Burner and the Marine with the Shotgun charged one Hunter, downing it fast, while the others got the other one dead just as fast. Then the Elites noticed, sending 7 Minors and 3 Majors to stop us. They sprayed Plasma at us. Mouse ran in a spectacular way, while Me and Baron returned fire using our shoulder pieces to block their headshots. They could have got us by shooting our chests, but they seemed obsessed with protection. I called for cover fire and the Elites hid behind their Deployable Cover, 3 to each one, except one occupied only by a Major, for a total 4 cover pieces. When we got back we focused out fire on a piece of cover used by 2 Majors and a Minor. Burner sighed and shot it's base, allowing us to mow down the Elites behind with combined fire.

Mouse came back, holding a SPANKr, and aimed. We quickly destroyed their cover's bases, allowing him clean shots. He took out 6 Minors, a Rocket between 3, and Burner shot a Grenade on the final one's waste, detonating it and destroying it. We all stopped to reload and then Mouse pushed a container at us. We looked inside, and I told Mouse if he joined the Paras and got added to my squad, I'd call him Hero. Because when we were done taking from it, we had a Chaingun each. The plan was simple - charge. We managed to wal forward slowly, the heavy Chainguns slowing us, but mowing through the enemy, who were just sending a wave of Grunts to deal with us, and once they were down we refocused on the backs of their Jackals. Then part of their force split to fight us. Mouse's rockets dealt with the Majors and Jackals, while the rest of us cut down the Grunts. Their forces were in Chaos, splitting randomly to face the two UNSC attacks. But eventually we were down to a Zealot and Major, the Major taking cover behind a pile of dead Jackals, the Zealot challenging the group of us to fair combat, without weapons. We said no and it shot at us with it's Fuel Rod Gun before we had aimed at it, the thing's reaction time was insane. We mowed it down, but I realised it had killed Mouse with it's shots. Because Mouse, in an act of Heroism, had jumped into the blast, saving three of us but sacrificing himself in the process. The Major fell to a swarm of bullets, and the ship-to-ship battle was won, but only because we had outnumbered their fleet 4-1. And I only witnessed our victory due to Mouse.

I didn't attend Mouse's funeral. I attended Hero's funeral.


	7. Cocky ODSTs and Monkey Aliens

**A/N: Hello people. If you like this story, reviews will increase my update rate. Well, stop it from slowing too much, as I'm getting 2 Xbox Games tommorow. Anyway, you get to make up your own character for this story if you submit a review in this format:**

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I was falling through the air, pushing throug the clouds as the wind battered me around. Then I was through the clouds and I saw the land stretched out beneath me. The Covenant had set up a small base just north of the City of Bronhurn. Our mission today was to set up a safe zone for the Pelicans to land. A black pod shot past me, the black-clad man inside waving at me like a maniac. Showoff. I got to the right altitude and activated my parachute, landing and rolling to absorb the slight impact. My Parachute detached automatically and as I got my bearings I heard the telltale sound of Plasma fire. Is staggered and fired at the Ghost rushing down the street towards me. Suddenly, I heard a loud crack and the pilot flew out of the Vehicle, a smoking hole in it's head. A few members of my team began landing around as my saviour walked up to me. He was an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, and he had painted a Bullet Enblem on his chestplate, and a red stripe on his helmet. He held a Sniper Rifle, an SRS-99C AM, I believe. He depolarised his visor, revealing a tanned face with black hair getting into his eyes and a slight moustache. He looked like he was from Texas or a simmilar Colony off of Earth.

"Well you could say thank you, parachute boy," he said aggresivley.

I didn't like ODSTs. They were all so cocky and full of themselves, and had a repuation for being violent. This one didn't seem any different.

"Thank you, Parachute Boy," I spat.

"Bit of a Joker are you? I'm begginning to regret sacving you," he said.

"Sir, two more Ghosts!" shouted Baron.

I heard Assault Rifle fire, and span round, opening fire on the nearest Ghost. My rounds pinged off the metal but I got lucky and hit the Grunt pilot's head, causing it to die and the Ghost to crash. The other Ghost pilot screamed something about a 'Nipple Brother' before Chatter's rounds hit it and ended it's life. Chopper and Silent had landed somewhere else in the city, hopefully not too far away. I checked their status on TEAM BIO and they were both alive, although Chopper's heartbeat was a bit too fast. He was probably in heavy combat. I contacted him over the radio, and he said he had landed on a building's roof by mistake and then a Wraith had destroyed the building, and some Brutes had him pinned down. I saw the destroyed building and ran to it. The ODST Sniper had vanished. Good riddance. We reached the building and saw Chopper firing over his cover at a few Brutes, who were firing their Spiker Rifles at him, turning his cover into a DIY model turtoise. I aimed my rifle as shot a Brute's hand as it readied a Spike Grenade. It roared, dropped the grenade and roared again as the spikes sliced through him and 2 other Brutes. Only one was left now, a Captain with dual Spikers. We opened fire on him, blowing off his power armor, and he roared in rage and pain, charging us. He swung his fist, knocking Chatter across the street, and slammed his Spiker Blades into Baron's upper arms, kicked him in the leg, then raised him up and kicked him into a window, which shattered and rained on him as he fell to the street. I swore at the fucking Brute, then I fired a burst at him and he grabbed me by the throat.

Suddenly, a long, sharp Knife burst through it's upper arm and it shouted something in Monkey Language before hurling me away and turning to punch Chopper in the face. He missed and hit Chopper on the temple, cracking his helmet slightly. The pain got through, though - I could tell because he screamed and staggered back before the Brute swiped at him with both Spikers, trying to slice him open with the blades on their underside. He dodged backwards and I shot it in the head three times with my Magnum, leaving a trio of smoking holes in it's head. It was probably dead, but with Brutes it's better safe than sorry. I pointed at it and Chopper cut it's head of with it's own huge combat knife, then pocketed it. The knife, not the head. That would have been... Well, you know what I mean. Anyway, we went over to Baron and Chatter to check they were ok. Chatter was fine, but his armor was dented badly. Baron was bleeding through his arms, his armor was scratched all over and he was out cold. Not only that, but his lower leg was broken badly - not quite snapped in two, but quite close to it. Shit shit shit. I injected some biofoam into his right arm as Chopper did the same to his left arm. We gave him an Adrenaline injected and he shudder around and then woke up. We asked him if he was ok to fight, but he doubted it. I flipped through the Comm Channels and found the Medical one, then called a Medic over here. Baron readied his Assault Rifle and told us to head on, that he could protect himself until the Medic arrived to take him to the field hospital.

Then we started looking for silent. We found him in a street, facing off against 3 Revenants and 2 Banshees. He he had Jackal Energy Shield on his left wrist, and a Sawn Off Shotgun in his left hand. In his right hand he held a glowing Plasma Pistol. He fired a strafing, screaming, shotting Banshee, hiding behind his shield. It's engines flatted out and it crashed into the wall next to Silent, who aimed his Shotgun and fired one shot, breaking through the weak top armor and tearing the pilot apart. He ducked back into cover and pumped his shotgun. We snuck around behind the Revenants, then jumped on the back of one each. Chopper stabbed the Pilot of his in the eye with the Brute Combat Knife. I dropped a grenade and leapt backwards off the Revenant. Chatter pumped the pilot of his Revenant full of lead. Their Revenants stopped in their tracks. Mine exploded from the inside. Then the ground behind me joined the club as a bolt of green plasma hit it, turning it into scorching glass. It flew over the Revenant's wreckage and landed on the ground in front of it, the back of my armor damaged and the skin there blistered. All of it. I grimaced as I stood up and aimed at the Banshee. Silent beat me to the punch with this Plasma Pistol, and as it plummeted downwards he leapt on it and pumped a shell into tit's weak roof, then leapt forwards and off as it exploded in blue flames. I got the feeling he didn't need out help.

He saluted. Closest he gets to speaking.

"Alright people. We're one man-" I started.

"Yeah, Spark's a man. Got no tits!" shouted Chatter.

"Actually, she has quite nice tits," said Chopper.

"Much as I like tits, we're busy. Unfortunatley. Anyway, we're one man AND WOMAN down," I continued; "Because Baron's wounded."

"Already? Friggin' lightweight!" shouted out Chatter.

"A - You were there. B - He's your superior officer. C - If you keep interupting, it'll be obvious your dick is leightweight," I said; "Anyway, we need to rely on stealth, because with only 4 of us, we're at a disadvantage."

"Silent counts as 10," cut in Chatter.

"We usually have 15, then. Whatever. We are 2 people down, NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!" I shouted.

Then I heard a Covenant squad racing down the street. To be honest, I wasn't surprised. I was surprised when I saw it was a Brute Pack, led by a Chieftian and 2 War Chiefs. Behind them was 4 Brute Captains and 10 Brute Minors. I barked a few orders and we fell back, firing a few shots at the Chieftian, who activated his immortal shield thingy. Then we ducked into cover in alleyways as they started firing at us. Me and silent flanked around using alleys while Chatter and Chopper distracted them. They we blowing the corner of their building as me and Silent burst out and started firing. Silent had traded his Sawn-off Shotgun for a Mauler from one of the Revenant pilots. He took down a War Chief as I rolled a Grenade under the other's feet, hurling it into the air and destroying it's power armor. Then I fired a shot with my Magnum, blowing into it's head and causing a exploson of blood. The Brutes turned to face us and we leapt behind two cars and bolted for the alleyways as the two C's (that's my new name for Chopper and Chatter) started firing and hurling Grenades. The monkey aliens turned to fire at them and me and Silent attacked again. I got hit on my Shoulder Pad, the Spiker rounds from a Minor filling it up. Another shot would crack it, so I rolled behind another Car and removed the piece, stuck a Grenade on it and hurled it at the Chieftian who was running at me. An explosion bounces off it's armor and it's hammer slams into the car. It flies away and I leg it. An overcharged plasma blast hit's it, but the Chieftian's armor has obviously been upgraded.

It swings it's hammer again and I dive backwards. It hits me in the stomach with the Hammer's pole then slams it into my chin. Suddenly, a wall of fire slams into it, driving it back. A Marine sprints forwards with a looted Spike Grenade, jumps, and sticks it to the Chieftain's head. The Chieftain grabs her and I shoot it in the foot, then throw the girl away, diving down afterwards as it explodes. A fragment bounces off my helmet, and the Marine pulls me up. I recognise her as Burner.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," I said.

"I see the mighty Spec Ops Trooper needs help from a lowly Marine," shes teased.

"Um..." I start, and she laughs.

"BOSS, STOP FLIRTING AND FIGHT!" shouted Chopper.

Then Me, Burner and her squad of Marines charged into combat, gunning down the Brutes.


	8. Raiding the Base and Pain

We cleared up the Brutes and then Burner's squad had to leave to evacuate some civvilains. Me and my squad headed to the rooftops so we got reach our goal faster. We started as high as we could, on a very big house, then leapt to a slightly smaller house. Silent put his guns on his back and we did the same before leaping to the next roof, then to another, pulling ourselves up from the drain pipe. As the last one of us got up, the pipe collapsed, hitting a Grunt below on the head. It's buddies and Elite leader looked up. I dropped a grenade and it exploded, killing the Grunts and removing the Brute's power armor. Chopper threw his old combat knife into it's head. He didn't need it now he had the Brute's one - and a Gravity Maul. He had taken the Chieftian's Hammer and chopped off half of the pole, making a small but deadly weapon. The Brute staggered and died. We moved on, jumping to the next roof, then through a hole in the next, running to the other side of the room and smashing out through the window, rolling as we hit the next roof. A Shade Turret fired at us form the other side. I dived to the side, Chatter diving to the other, and we fired, distracting it long enough for Chopper to charge it and slam it with his Gravity Maul, hurling it - and the screaming Grunt inside - off the roof and to the streets below. It crushed a Grunt. Eventually we reached where we needed to make an LZ for the Marines (Burner's squad had deployed early). It was a park. We checked for enemies, and saw a group of Grunts led by 2 Hunters and a War Chief. Chopper dropped onto the War Chief and smashed his face in as the rest of us slid down the wall. We made sure the War Chief was dead before moving on.

Everyone except Chopper fired at the first Hunter. It returned fire. We scattered and the wall behind us exploded. We rolled forwards and peppered it's shields with bullets. It fired again, and we evaded. Chopper snuck up behind it and sliced a slit in it's back, then he slammed the Gravity Maul into the slit, tearing it open and hurling the parts apart. There was a roar and the other Hunter slammed him away. The Grunts saw us and started firing their Needlers, and we scattered - again. I aimed and fired at the Grunts, damaging one's methane tank and causing it to whizz around and crash into another. One survived the chain reaction and fired at me. It hit my Shoulder Pad and I fired back, tearing it's stomach open. Meanwhile, Chatter and Silent were firing at the Hunter, who was turning to fire back. It fired and the blast hit a car, hurling it at Chatter, who rolled forwards under the makeshift kinetic weapon. Chopper staggered up and smashed through the Hunter's unprotected back. It roared and Chopper hit it again as it span round, killing it. I checked he was ok. Hunters can hit very hard, you know. He was mostly ok. Only 1 broken rib, which isn't that bad for us. Usually we had to be evacuated after being hit by Hunters. We got out some flares and scattered them over the park. A few minutes later, 10 Pelicans swooped down, hovering over the park's ground, and each dropped a Troop Transport Warthog. Then 5 Marines jumped from each, most of them armed with SPANKrs. The Marines loaded up into the Warthogs, the ones with Rockets taking non-driver seats.

Another Pelican landed, dropping a final Warthog, with a Rocker Launcher in each seat. We all climbed in. I grabbed the wheel, and Silent rode Shotgun. The Two Cs were in the back. Everyone except me had a Rocket Launcher. I know, poor me. One of the Marines climbed onto a bench and gave us our mission - to drive to the Covenant base, and blast through it, aiming for AA Guns and Plasma Deposits. Then, we would strafe around, taking out Brutes, Hunters and large groups of Grunts and Jackals. While this was going on, more Pelicans would be landing with reinforcements, and a few Scorpions. We drove off, roaring down the streets, ramming through Grunts and Jackals on the way out of the city. Then we drove North until we saw the Covenant Base as we reached the top of a hill. We drove faster, firing Rockets at the gate. It was and Energy Shielded gate made of thick armor. 43 rockets blew it backwards and shards rained down on the Covenant inside. We raced in, and 129 more Rockets were fired (roughly). When we came out the other side, they had no Turrets of any kind and Plasma Fires were raging. We strafed back through, firing more. We barely noticed as Marines filed in, taking out enemies like there was no tommorow. A while later we were outside their main building, ready to attack. 98 of us, mostly armed with MA37s now the SPANKRs were out of ammo. We flooded in, gunning down the War Chiefs inside, and hurling walls of bullets at their packs. It took us no time to get to what we assumed to be the command room. Then Plasma explosions ripped through the building, killing most of us instantly. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT AND MOAR SHIT!

The door to the room hissed open and 6 Chieftians walked out to finish us off. A 20 on 6 battle. We started firing, bullets whizzing everywhere as they charged us. One reached a group of 3 Marines and slammed them all into the floor. Shit. Another grabbed Chatter by the throat. I roared as I leapt at it, stabbing it in the neck. My squad would not die if I had anything to say about it. It shoved me away and I dropped an M6 magazine into it's head. It staggered and fell, headless. Another stepped over me before there was a fast series of four CRACKs and the thing fell backwards, without a head. I scrambled to my feet and hurled 4 grenades, blowing one into a Plasma explosion crater. The battle raged until one was left, facing Me, My Squad and a Sniper Rifle bearing Marine. We fired but it ignored the bullets, white energy shimmering over it. It swung the bladed side of it's hammer into my chest as it charged. I screamed as it kicked me off of it's blade. I looked down and saw a huge, deep wound in my chest, blood leaking out. I began feeling faint and my vision faded. I grabbed an MA37 and fired it at the Brute as it killed the Sniper Marine, kicked Chatter into a wall, then hacked Silent's chest open. I was going unconscious as it swung it's hammer at Chopper's head. I heard a Gravity Hammer go off as I fell into a forced sleep. Energy shooting through my body woke me, and a Marine injected me with Biofoam in the chest, and gave me some blood injections to keep me alive. The blade's cut was my only wound, so when they wrapped a bandage around me I was able to climb to my feet, coughing up some blood. Chopper was injecting Silent with Biofoam, and getting out a bandage. A quick electronic check confirmed his wounds weren't as bad as mine. He would be ok.

Chopper slammed his Gravity Maul into the Chieftian's chest. It flew backwards and landed on it's back. Chatter fired at it, rounds pinging off it's white energy shield. It roared and charged again, shield fading. Chatter snatched the Sniper Rifle from the ground and fired it one handed, the powerful slug taking off it's helmet. It roared and Chopper hurled his Gravity Maul. It slammed into the Brute's face, crushing it's skull. He called for Medics and ran over to Silent as the Medics sprinted into the room.

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End file.
